The present invention relates, generally, to the field of building construction including, but not limited to, house construction. Particularly, the present invention relates to manufactured home construction. More specifically, the present invention relates to a floor frame structural support assembly and to a method of making a floor frame structural support assembly for use in manufactured homes.
Typically, floor frame assemblies are prefabricated or separately fabricated structures used to facilitate the construction of manufactured homes. Increasingly, homebuyers are choosing to use prefabricated sectional elements including floor frame assemblies in building new homes in order to reduce the cost of assembling and building new homes which is normally associated with traditional building methods. Manufactured homes with floor frame assemblies, walls, roof, windows, doors and similar structure are generally built in one or more locations such as a factory and then towed along public roadways to their final building sites to be mounted on supports in a safe, stable and reliable manner. The manufactured homes that satisfy certain government specifications are used in the construction of HUD code houses. Subassembly at one location, transportation to the building site and assembly on-site produces some demands for strength and versatility of the structure that is not required, for example, of a structure assembled directly on-site from generic building materials, e.g., wood, bricks, mortar, nails or the like.
Building structure sections for manufactured homes are sized to be transportable and a typical section uses a single floor frame assembly to serve as a floor support for the entire sectional unit. Although manufactured homes may employ single sectional units, many employ two or more sectional units including two or more floor frame assemblies, each of which provides a structurally sound base upon which to construct a separate sectional unit of a finished product. After two or more sectional units are individually transported to a final building site, the floor frame assemblies and sectional units are interconnected to create a stable home base.
One of the more important and more difficult problems which must be addressed in the production of homes assembled from subassembled sections is providing a suitable floor frame assembly which adequately supports a home after final assembly on-site. Over time, if a floor frame assembly is not designed to adequately handle the loads or forces applied thereto, floor joists will crown, the floor will slope or warp and damage to the walls and/or roof may occur. A workable floor frame assembly should also have sufficient strength and versatility to be handled and shipped multiple times and such a floor frame assembly also must be capable of supporting itself and supporting and protecting any additional structure(s) attached thereto.
It is therefore desirable to have a floor frame structural support assembly which can be mass-produced for cost effective reasons with as few structural variations as possible, which is strong enough to be incorporated into various manufactured home constructions and which is transportable to a final building site.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,622 describes a floor frame assembly for facilitating the construction of mobile and modular homes. The floor frame assembly of the ""622 patent suffers the drawback of requiring the use of rectangular outriggers and very substantial overlying floor joists, wall perimeter rails and mating wall beams, as well as a large number of fasteners between the outriggers, floor joists and exterior wall beams. As will be explained more fully below, the floor frame assembly described in the ""622 patent is not capable of placement upon an eccentric support or eccentric load bearing system. As shown in FIG. 3 of the ""622 patent, the floor frame assembly described therein is designed for placement upon a uniform support or uniform load bearing system to prevent the floor frame assembly from bending.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,809, 5,028,072, 5,201,546 and 5,488,809, for example, disclose floor frame assemblies having various specific features. None of those floor frame assemblies achieve the versatility, strength and cost advantages of the present invention. More specifically, none of those floor frame assemblies are capable of operating with eccentric support or eccentric load bearing systems.
Briefly, in one aspect, the present invention includes a floor frame structural support assembly having a plurality of substantially parallel, longitudinal support members or beams, each of the support members having inside-directed and outside-directed wall surfaces, the inside-directed wall surfaces of the support members being substantially parallel. A plurality of substantially rigid, bend-resistive cross members disposed between the support members and affixed to the respective inside-directed surfaces thereof are provided so as to prevent the inside surfaces from moving from their substantially parallel relationship during handling, transportation and on-site construction. The floor frame structural support assembly further includes a plurality of outriggers each affixed to one or the other of the respective outside surfaces of the longitudinal support members to provide further rigidity to the overall floor frame structural support assembly.
In another aspect of the present invention, the above-described floor frame structural support assembly includes additional components such as floor joists, marriage wall beams and exterior wall beams to further support wall portions and a roof which are integral to a sectional unit for use in a manufactured home. The number of additional structural components and type, such as door and window frames, will be determined by the kind of building or house into which the floor frame structural support assembly is to be placed.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method of making a floor frame structural support assembly according to the present invention is provided. A plurality of longitudinal support members each having a longitudinal axis and an inside-directed surface and an outside-directed surface are provided. A plurality of bend-resistive, substantially rigid, cross members are also provided. The rigid cross members are permanently fixed to the inside surfaces of the longitudinal support members so as to maintain the support members in a substantially parallel relationship and to prevent significant relative movement of the longitudinal support members during handling, transportation and on-site deployment. A plurality of outriggers are provided and attached to the outside-directed wall surfaces of the longitudinal support members. The respective outriggers are generally perpendicular to the axis of the respective support member, substantially parallel to each other and substantially collinear with a cooperating cross member.
In another aspect of the present invention, floor joists, marriage wall beams, exterior wall beams, bearing blocks and other structural components may be attached to the floor frame structural support assembly so as to support further other structure members such as wall portions and a roof of sectional units designed for use in manufactured homes.
A principal feature of the present invention is that the floor frame structural support assembly is designed to be placed upon eccentric support or eccentric load bearing systems. The substantially rigid, compression-resistive cross members are specifically designed to be of sufficient strength to prevent the collapse of the cross members even when the floor frame structural support assembly is placed upon an eccentric load bearing support system. The cross members of the present invention are specifically designed to not only handle tension loads or forces, but to also handle compression loads or forces both of which are transferred to the cross members upon final on-site assembly.
Advantageously, the apparatus and method according to the present invention are of relatively simple construction and operation.
A feature of the present invention is to provide an economically-manufactured, strong, conveniently transportable floor frame structural support assembly which can be cooperatively mounted on-site with one or more other similar floor frame structural support assemblies as part of a building structure.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a floor frame structural support assembly which can be mass produced, which includes uniform quality control, which optimizes manpower, which allows for the customizing of certain products for individual customers, and which is also of sufficient strength to withstand expected uses.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide a floor frame structural support assembly which can be supported in any number of different ways and yet is still capable of withstanding uneven load application without damage to itself or any structure supported thereby.
Still another feature of the present invention is to provide a floor frame structural support assembly that can be prefabricated, with or without additional structure to support, and can thereafter be towed in a safe and stable manner to its permanent destination. The prefabricated structure is designed to be transportable at highway speeds and also designed to resist incidental bouncing, and shock loading during transport without significant adverse effects.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims and drawings in which like numerals are used to designate like features.